1994 Issue 2

"Let him who stole, steal no more, but let him work with his hands in order that he may have something to give to him who has need," Eph. 4:28, (Acts 20:35).

Jesus said, "The poor you always have with you," Mat. 26:11. I can certainly bear witness to the truth of that. One of the perennial pastoral problems that I face is ministering to the poor, especially those who call on the telephone and show up at the door or even in the worship service. It is clearly an issue that needs to be addressed and decided in advance how you will handle or respond to these requests for funds. Also, it is very difficult to even know how to address the needs in the local congregation so that, as in Acts 6, some are not overlooked, and needs are cared for, without supporting those who are not deserving. How can we attack the problem of poverty? Whose job is it? Who are the "poor" that we are to help? How are we to help them? Our own goal, even through impoverishment of ourselves (2 Cor. 8-9), is to minister to the poor of the people of God (Deut.15:4), and to the world, Isa. 58:6-8.

John the Forerunner is a singular voice crying in the wilderness. "The person disappears in the glory of his calling, receding before the contents of his cry. The cry sounds like the long, drawn-out trumpet blast of a herald." - Delitzsch in Lenski. "The whole man was a sermon. The message was more than the messenger, and hence the messenger is regarded as mainly a voice." - Plumer

"the wilderness," and its scenery, symbolize "the moral obstacles which have to be removed by the repentance baptism of John, in order to prepare the people for the reception of the Messiah, or (as some prefer) of Jehovah, Isa. 35:8-10. -- Just as Oriental monarchs, when making a royal progress, send a courier before them to exhort the population to prepare roads, so the Messiah sends His herald to exhort His own people, Jn. I: II, to prepare their hearts for His coming." - Plummer. Again, it must be emphasized, the wilderness and its obstacles are found in the hearts of the people.

When the Wicked Seize A City: A Grim Look at the Future and a Warning to the Church by Chuck and Donna McIlhenny and Frank York. Huntington House Publishers P.O. Box 53188 Lafayette, La. 70505. 1993. pb. 239 pp. with Appendix.

Preparation for a good defense of the Faith must necessarily include the self-conscious development of godly attitudes and actions, both in general as well as during the apologetic encounter with the unbeliever. Defending the Faith is a comprehensive task for every Christian. While it is convenient to subdivide the field of apologetics, it is imperative that these subdivisions of study and practice be reunited to perform the overall task in harmony. The plant may be dissected in the laboratory and each part (petal, stem, leaf, toot, etc.) may be analyzed and studied. Yet, the plant'S beauty may only be fully appreciated when viewed as a whole in its natural context.

Rush Limbaugh was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He was initially enamored with radio in his elementary school days, and in the 1960's Limbaugh became a "top-40" deejay. He later became a radio talk show host at KFBK in Sacramento, California. It was in 1988 that his show went national; it is now heard in over 500 markets nationwide. Limbaugh also publishes the monthly The Limbaugh Letter (with over 275,000 subscribers) and he has authored a #1 New York Times bestseller: The Way Things Ought To Be (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992, 1993), which has already sold 2.5 million copies.

Mr. Limbaugh's fame and popularity is growing. Former President Ronald Reagan once told Limbaugh: "You've become the number one voice for conservatism in our country." Pat Buchanan says that "more than any other broadcaster today, he [Limbaugh) has brought converts back to values that really matter." Oliver North tells us that "Rush has captured the sense of average Americans - that much of what we see going on around us is just plain crazy." And William Bennet writes: "Every-one knows Rush Limbaugh is a national phenomenon. But he is more than that; he is a national resource."